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Awards 2009 - Green Initiative of the Year: BMW Efficient Dynamics

Date:
27 January 2009

Any organisation or brand that is eco-focussed and relevant to the fleet manager can win our Green Initiative of the Year award. Previous winners include Saab's BioPower range, BP's carbon offsetting scheme and the Highways Agency for the M42 hard shoulder running.

So BMW, with its low-CO2 Efficient Dynamics range, hasn't just beaten its car-manufacturing rivals to this prize; it's beaten everyone.

And the German brand didn't just scrape home at the last; its victory was a comfortable one. Second place went to Volkswagen's highly worthy and ultra low-emissions Bluemotion range. But unlike VW, the Efficient Dynamics brand is not restricted to a few highly economical models.

The technology can be seen on a whole host of Beemers, all the way from the stop-start 119g/km CO2 118d to the luxurious 7-series limo. In every segment the respective models offer class-leading emissions figures, incredible fuel consumption and the one thing key to the brand - driver enjoyment.

It would have been easy to slot smaller engines into bigger cars to lower emissions as far as possible, but an engineer told us at the launch of the 7-series this year that "that's not what BMW is about". Instead it's concentrated on combining high efficiency with low consumption without compromising behind the wheel thrills.

This victory, and that in three other of our awards categories, confirms it's succeeding in this aim. Steve Chater, BMW's new fleet boss, voiced his delight, saying: "It is a great accolade to pick up the four awards. BusinessCar is highly regarded in the industry and to have that acknowledgement is very important."

Second-placed Volkswagen's achievement is also highly deserved and there's every chance the next 12 months will add to the brand's stock. The new Golf comes out under the low-CO2 Bluemotion banner, and is expected to boast class-leading emissions for a diesel of just 99g/km and fuel consumption of 70mpg.

Highly commended: Volkswagen Bluemotion

Sponsored by IAM Fleet and Drive & Survive

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